Awakening (Book 2 in the Original BOC Series) ✔

Epilogue

☙ღ❧FIVE YEARS LATER☙ღ❧

"Daaaaaaaddy."

Nathan grinned, hearing the sound of a small voice next to his side of his bed he was sleeping on. His eyes remained closed, letting his four year old once again softly call, "Daaaaaddyyyyy..."

The only movement he made was to blindly pull the covers from where his waist was, over his head.

There was little footsteps pitter-patting on the wood floor, around the king sized bed and paused on the other side his head faced under the covers. He heard some sort of screeching coming from the rocking chair kept in the corner of the room over to the side of the bed when it bumped into it.

Seconds later, Nathan felt someone on all fours crawling over and tugging at the blanket. He smiled, trying not to laugh, and kept his eyes shut even after the blanket was successfully pulled off. There was no other movement, but he could hear the light breathing of his daughter closing in.

Nathan peeled open an eye meeting those of his tiny Darla.

She had moved her face so close to her father's, the mutation in her eyes was more obvious.

After his daughter had turned six months, Nathan and Mara had noticed that Darla's gray filmed eyes were still there. They had thought by this age, the natural eye color for Darla would have appeared. Instead, her orbs carried that milky smoke gray film; having them seek out the help from their underground friend, Olivia Jennings-also the woman who had delivered Darla.

Olivia had appeared at the Henry Estate with a raised brow and pursed lips. She stood with her arms crossed and in her USWAT uniform. Nathan grinned shyly when he saw her, thanking her repeatedly at being able to escape from work to make a house visit.

She walked in and grumbled to Nathan that she was not supposed to be coming out of the facility, and that she'd get into so much trouble if the Captain knew. Nathan sighed, running his fingers through the front of his hair, nodding that he knew that and then apologized.

Olivia, however, plastered a smile and shrugged, "It's alright. It's nice to be outside those white walls for a change." She clapped her hands together and grinned, "Now. Where's your little one?"

After a short examination, the blonde woman stood up, smiling at the little girl and tapped her nose. She then turned to the parents standing worriedly. It was amusing to see Nathan Henry-Mr. Cool, Calm, and Collected-this way. Olivia shook her head, lifting the baby and handing her over to her mother.

"Your daughter is going to be just fine," she started.

Her smiled faded and shrugged, "Darla has a genetic mutation called Sectoral Heterochromia Iridum." The parents stared at Olivia unable to comprehend the name. Smiling, she continued, "What this means, is the pigment we see within the iris is unevenly distributed, causing a distortion in the colors."

Mara looked at Darla, shifting her onto her hip. "So... what can we expect then? Will her eyes change?"

Olivia nodded, "Yes." She leaned forward smiling at little Darla tugging on her mother's brown curls and placing the end into her mouth once it was in her little fist.

Mara was wrestling with her daughter to get her saliva covered hair out of Darla's mouth as Olivia explained further, "Considering that you two have the eye colors that can go either way for a child without this mutation, once the gray film disappears... mmm... around the age of one, Darla is going to inherit both."